First Road Game At Nearby Fairfield

Sep 13, 2007

Sept. 13, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Bulldogs' first road trip of the season won't take them very far. Yale travels to nearby Fairfield on Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest at Lessing Field. The Stags have become a familiar opponent as the two teams have played every year since 1992. Live stats from the game will be available on fairfieldstags.com.

A young Bulldogs squad opened the season last weekend by dropping a pair of games at the Yale Classic. Yale played well but dropped a 3-1 decision to 10th-ranked Northwestern in the season opener and then lost 1-0 to Sacred Heart two days later.

"We have been working on some of the areas that gave us difficulty last week and trying to be more consistent in our play," said Yale head coach Brian Tompkins.

Forward Liam Leonard was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday. He scored on a penalty kick against Northwestern and created Yale's best scoring chances against Sacred Heart. Leonard and midfielder Alex Guzinski were both named to the Yale Classic all-tournament team.

The Stags opened the season by beating Buffalo and St. John's and were ranked 17th in the Sept. 4 NSCAA poll before dropping a 2-0 decision to Boston College last Friday. Sam Bailey has scored two of the team's three goals.

Fairfield is the defending MAAC champion and upset UConn in the first round of the NCAA College Cup last year.

"Fairfield is a well-respected program in the Northeast and has the ability to beat any team in the country on any given day," Tompkins said. "We fully expect to have our hands full against a well-coached athletic team."

Yale leads the all-time series with the Stags 13-4-2, but Fairfield topped the Bulldogs 3-1 at Reese Stadium last year.